Construction Project

Thank You for your Generosity

Thank you to all who have generously pledged to the Continuing the Vision Capital Campaign. We appreciate your continued support. If you have made a pledge to the Capital Campaign and have questions regarding the balance or terms of your pledge please contact our finance office at 281.752.2400.

There are several ways to make your pledge payments:

For those that receive monthly envelopes, Capital Campaign envelopes are included. Simply enclose cash or check in the envelope and drop into the collection basket. Payments can also be made through Parish Pay, Electronic Giving, Gifts of Stock and IRA’s.

Construction Updates

PARKING AND TRAFFIC

February 19, 2017

Soon the parking lot and exit drive ways will be completed. This will help greatly in eliminating and alleviating some of our congestion problems. We happily have added many more parking places so that even for the most crowded masses there is sufficient parking available. Thank you to all of our parishioners for your understanding and patience during this very long time of construction!

We ask that all parishioners please be mindful of all traffic laws and procedures.

Park only in designated parking places

Drive with courtesy and safety

Obey the directions of the officers.

This applies at church and everywhere. Our Christianity does not stop once we enter our cars.

It is hard not to notice and to escape all of the street construction surrounding our neighborhood. Memorial Drive both east and west and Dairy Ashford to the south are all being worked on. We are working with our own traffic officers to help traffic flow on Sundays.

Before: We recommend that to avoid back ups going west and south on Eldridge @ Memorial, Dairy Ashford south to use Dairy Ashford north to I-10 West (and then Eldridge)

After: We recommend using Dairy Ashford north from Memorial to I-10 to avoid backups.

our new Parking lot is open!

With the opening of the new and enlarged parking lot, there are important safety considerations: Please do not double park or use non-designated (illegal) parking spaces. Please do not block lanes of traffic or park in front of fire lanes. This is for the safety and convenience of all. When driving through the neighborhood, please do so with caution and courtesy to all our neighbors.

The first North driveway is no longer a two way. Please enter the property via the North and South driveways and exit the property via the Center and South driveways. Remember that all driveways have two lanes. Please follow this procedure seven days a week.

We are now entering an exciting phase in our building renovation project. The steel going up for the new bell tower and the marble floor being laid can now be seen. Soon the mosaics and the liturgical furniture will be installed and the new parking lot is nearing completion. There is still a great amount of work to do and it is going to be few more months before the project will be completed, but we can see things taking shape.

Please remember to keep the project and all of the workers in your prayers.

Hopefully, you will notice that the steel is going up on the garth way arcade for the plaza and the bell tower. There should be noticeable progress in the weeks ahead. Yet as with any construction project, there are times of rapid and visible progress and then the work seems almost at a standstill. Be assured it is not. Work is continuing each day. However, we continue to run into difficulties and delays in obtaining materials and skilled labor. When there is a delay with one part that has a ripple effect in delaying work and progress in other areas of the project. A good example is that we are awaiting the fabrication and shipment of the new windows for the lantern dome which is delaying the completion of the dome exterior and the painting on the interior. The contractors obviously do not want to have a painting crew come out just for a couple of days to do only a small section and then have to come back several other times to do only small portions. Despite the delays, we are still looking to have a completion date in December.

As you can see our project is really moving along. We have had a number of unexpected issues, but our General Contractor and their partner have been fantastic in addressing them. Although we are not done yet, our parish committees along with the architects and design associates have been doing a great job. One of the original intentions of the project was to make necessary repairs to the buildings. Unfortunately (or in reality, fortunately), we have discovered more repair issues than we were previously aware of. Among the issues discovered were serious cracks in the walls throughout the church, some of the foundation of the church was crumbling, numerous roof issues, and a host of other problems. All necessary repairs are being made to resolve these issues. We are also taking preventative measures to avoid future problems. Some of the repairs are for problems that are simply the result of time. As buildings age, things happen that need to be addressed. There have been other issues that have had to be addressed due to safety and building codes that have been implemented since the construction of the original church in 1967 and the “new” church in 2001. All in all, it is good that we are taking advantage of this opportunity to update our buildings and bring them into code compliance. One of the items we are addressing is an ADA (handicapped accessible) restroom for the Adoration Chapel. Another problem that has been repaired is the threshold to the entrance to the Adoration Chapel. There has also been major work to the drainage and utilities beneath the parking lot. This is not glamorous stuff, but it is important and necessary (and expensive!).

It is always dangerous to do this, but to give you a tentative – very tentative – idea of the schedule, we are looking at the completion of the chapels (old church and Adoration Chapel), the interior of the church, along with the parking lot in September. The exterior (arcade, plaza, bell tower and dome) and the narthex should be done by Christmas. That is the plan. This is all very much dependent upon materials, labor, weather and inspections. Upon completion of the interior of the church in September, the new organ will be installed. This is scheduled to take a couple of months. While a thousand things can go right, if one thing goes wrong, it can cause a major delay! We are trying to get on Cardinal DiNardo’s calendar sometime in January or February of 2017 for a re-dedication and blessing ceremony.

Our Continuing the Vision, 50th Anniversary Project has begun. The construction is being approached in overlapping areas of concentration. There are three major areas of construction: The parking lot, the exterior (plaza, bell tower and lantern) and the interior (church, chapels and narthex). Each section will be sequenced in stages. During construction, since we will be using the church on weekends and the parking throughout the project, some of our activities will be re-located.

Our Continuing the Vision, 50th Anniversary Project is slated to begin this week, January 4, 2016. The construction is being approached in overlapping areas of concentration. There are three major areas of construction: The parking lot, the exterior (plaza, bell tower and lantern) and the interior (church, chapels and narthex). Each section will be sequenced in stages. During construction, since we will be using the church on weekends and the parking throughout the project, some of our activities will be re-located.

Daily Mass – will be held in the Activity Center Dining Room. Funeral masses will be celebrated here as well.

Adoration/Liturgy of the Hours/Novenas – will be in Room C 24.

Confessions– will be held in the church.

Children’s Liturgy of the Word –is suspended for the Spring.

The schedule is dependent upon many factors including availability and shipment of materials, weather and inspections. Construction delays are very common although every effort will be made to avoid them. The estimated completion date of the entire project is slated for the Fall of 2016.

We have now begun the preparations for our Continuing the Vision, 50th Anniversary Project. The chapel is now closed, the organ has been relocated. Construction is slated to begin in the first weeks of the New Year.

There will be interruptions to how we do things here at the parish. Once major construction commences, we will only be able to use the church for weekends. Some activities that normally take place in the church/chapel/adoration chapel are going to be relocated to other spaces and other activities suspended. This will affect other events and activities on our parish schedule as well. Some will be relocated and others suspended during the duration of the project.

While many will naturally be excited and inquisitive about the project and its progress, safety is our first priority. We apologize ahead of time for the inconveniences and are grateful for the cooperation and understanding of all.